Elliott Shields: 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 months!

Weight: 20 pounds // Length: 27 inches // Hair: Lighter brown, long in a mohawk shape and around your ears // Eyes: Hazel green // Teeth: 2 on the bottom

Poor second baby!  It’s been MONTHS since I sat down to write you your letters.   There is no excuse except the fact that you have made us a family, and our lives are so full that there is barely time to breathe, let alone sit down, edit pictures, and try to decide what’s important to write down.  Still, I’m so glad that I do take that time.  Flipping through the hundreds of pictures your dad and I take, I watch you start to eat food, play with your brother, scoot around, legitimately crawl.

This is a little bit about our routine these days.  You go to school five days a week with Milo.  You have friends and crawl around and get into mischief.  After school, either Daddy or I will pick you up.  We watch movies, go for walks, and go to the park.  After dinner, you and Milo take a bath, read books, and go to bed.  Your crib is in the same room as Milo’s, and sometimes it’s hard to get you to sleep because you want to talk to each other all night.

Milo is truly, amazingly, your closest friend.  Whenever he walks into a room, you light up and start laughing.  Whenever Milo wakes up, he calls out “Esh?” which is his name for you.  You to tumble over each other like lion cubs; you hold hands when you’re watching TV.  You find each other in the room and watch to see where the other will move.  Everyone tells us how lucky we are that you both are such good friends.  It’s such a wonderful thing to watch.

You aren’t a big TV watcher like your brother is.  You like to swing in the park, look around on walks outside, be strapped to Mama’s chest, and EAT.  Eating and Milo are definitely your two favorite things in the entire world.  If you see food, you start kicking, making little moaning sounds, and waving your hands like crazy.  Since I’ve last wrote to you you’ve gone through different stages of eating.  First, you had baby cereal and then we added different pureed baby food pouches.  You had combos like spinach mango, green pea and pear, and sweet potato.  After a while, you were so hungry that you were eating several pricey pouches a day, so I started adding other foods, like Cheerios and bananas.  When Milo was little, I’d cut his “big people” food into tiny little pieces and he’d put them in his mouth, but you are very different.  You’ll only eat things if they are in large pieces, too big to choke on but definitely not baby-sized.  Recently, I’ve started feeding you whatever the rest of us are eating, and you eat more than Milo on MANY nights of the week.  You like waffles, Annie’s Mac and Cheese, avocado, quesadillas, SWEET POTATO WEDGES, scrambled eggs, apple slices, and swiss cheese.  I let you try whatever you ask for, even spicy chilli, and I’ve had a hard time finding anything you don’t enjoy.  I love watching you eat.

Basically, you are loved loved loved.  Your mama and daddy spend a good part of every day oohing and ahing over your smiles and your teeth poking through and the new milestones you hit every week or so.  Your brother thinks you are the most important thing in the house; your name is the first thing he says every day when he wakes up, and he never gets tired of kissing you, hugging (and trying to hold) you, and tickling your feet to make you laugh.

Sometimes I try to remember what it was like before you were here, and I have a really difficult time picturing it.  I feel like you have always been here, making us a family of four.  I used to think there were words I could put at the end of letters to explain how I feel about you, but there aren’t.  It’s not just love.  You and your brother ARE my heart.

Grow strong, sweet boy.  Love, your Mama.

Elliott: Three Months! and Four Months!

Weight: At least 10 pounds! (no doctor’s appointment this month) // Height: Probably 21 inches //Hair: Dark brown // Eyes: Getting greener! // Teeth: Still none

Weight: 12 pounds, 6 ounces // Height: 23.5 inches //Hair: Lighter brown, starting to fall out // Eyes: Hazel green // Teeth: Still none

My boy!  You are growing like a weed, time is flying so fast, any cliche you want can fit in this sentence.  It’s insane that you’re four months old, that we’re feeding you cereal, that your brother is starting to make you laugh.  We’re a busy little family.  We spend so much time out and about that I completely missed my chance to write and post your 3 month letter, so this note is is covering the past 8 weeks of our sweet little lives.  Everything is different now!

Here are some basics: right now (at 4 months) you wear size 2 diapers, drink a 6 oz bottle every 3 hours, and wear 3-6 months clothing.  At night you start out sleeping in the middle of Mama and Daddy’s bed, and when both you and your brother are soundly sleeping, we move you into the same room as Milo- you have a pack and play in the room that you are almost grown out of, but it’s still working for right now.

Our days have a rhythm, if not a routine.  About half the time, Milo is at daycare and you and I hang out, run errands, play on the floor.  The other half of the time, Milo is with us and we go on adventures to meet up with other young families, go for walks, and hang out at the park.  We have a double stroller now and it makes it even more fun for us to go places outside- flea markets, neighborhood walks, ice cream places, parks all over our area.  We have a great time.

You wake up around 5:30/6:00 pretty much every morning, and we have a solid routine of bath/pajamas/books every night before bed, but these are our only two guarantees of the day.  You are our gypsy baby- you nap wherever you happen to be lying, and we don’t really schedule our day around when you’re up or down.  Because you’re a good little brother, you tag a long to a ton of playgrounds and libraries and outings, and when we’re running errands, you either sleep or gently gaze at the people who stop to admire you.  You have a great personality; you seem calm most of the time, smile readily at your family and friends, and only make noise when you’re hungry or right before you fall asleep.  Daddy can make you laugh so loud and hard, and it’s his favorite thing to do as soon as he gets home from work.

Milo loves you so much.  He tickles your feet, he touches his forehead to yours, he worries when he hears you cry, and he tries to shove your pacifier in your mouth, even if you’re peacefully sleeping when he notices you lost it.  I’m really excited for a few months from now when you’ll be even better at playing together.

In the past two months, you’ve had your first plane ride (to Florida!), met the rest of your family (in Florida!), had your first stomach bug (poor baby), visited Boston,  tasted rice cereal for the first time, gotten super handsome, and are really coming into your own.  In some ways, its so hard not to compare you to Milo, but in other ways, it’s not, because you are truly your own little person.  You have your own voice, your own smile, and your own laid back way of taking everything in.  I love spending time with you; it’s a real treasure to have you with me all the time.  My favorite part of every day is when I lay down next to you on our bed at night; we read some books and sing some songs and you look right into my eyes as you drift off to sleep.  It’s the most peaceful thing I’ve ever experienced.

It’s almost the summer, and I can’t wait to see what these next months together bring.   Your family loves you so, so much.  Grow strong, little baby.  Love, your mama. xo

Elliott: Two Months!

Weight: 9 pounds, 9 ounces // Height: 20.75 inches //Hair: Dark brown // Eyes: Indigo // Teeth: Still none, sorry buddy

Hi sweet baby!  You’re two months old, really almost two and a half months, by the time I’m writing this. Our days are becoming more and more filled, more and more exciting, and the time to sit and write doesn’t always present itself, but be sure that every day we are collecting moments and milestones and saving them up to record here for you.

Noteworthy things you are doing right now:

GROWING!  You’ve gained almost 3 pounds in four weeks!  We love it because your sweet face is filling out and you’re putting on that chub that makes babies so squeezable.  You are very demanding and take almost 6 ounces plus some breast milk every time you eat.  After so many weeks of you not gaining weight, it’s a huge relief to see the numbers on the scale and feel you heavy in our arms.

Rolling over?!  This is crazy but true.  When we do tummy time, if your arms are underneath you at all, you will angrily yell and flip yourself over onto your back.  We thought maybe it was a fluke, but you’ve done it probably five or six different times now.  If you’re on your back and angry enough, you will flip over onto your side and try to get back onto your belly.  You have a lot of strength, little guy.  You make me proud in that you don’t give up.

Screaming til you stop breathing.  I hate when you do this.  It happens in the evening about once a week, when I’m making dinner or have Milo in the tub and I have to let you cry for a little while.  You will scream, get a little louder, get a little shriller, turn purple, then stop.  I tell you sternly, “Elliott!” and you take a quiet little defeated breath and then look at me through swollen eyes.  It’s insane, Elliott.  Your Aunt Emily used to do the same thing when she was little, so you come by it honestly, but you scare the heck out of me every time, and I’m not an easy Mama to scare.

The real story of your second month is your relationship with your brother, Milo.  When we first brought you home, it was hard for Milo, because he wasn’t used to babies or sharing our attention.  I was a little worried that he wouldn’t warm up to you, but I was very wrong.  Even though Milo is going through a lot of testing with Mama and Daddy right now, he saves his biggest love for you.  When we pick him up from daycare, he runs to your car seat, sticks his head right next to yours, and babbles high-pitched nonsense.  He kisses you whenever he can, and loves to tickle your hands and feet.  When you cry, he gets very concerned and runs over to an adult, like he’s saying “Do something, help him!”  We have to keep a sharp eye because he wants to pick you up very badly, and he’s too small to do that.   His favorite thing to do when he sees you in rest his forehead against your head or shoulder and sigh.  It makes my heart so happy to see the two of you starting your life as brothers on such a foundation of love.  I know there are lots of wrestling matches and fistfights to come, but right now, you guys are all hugs and kisses.

We are falling into more of a rhythm as a family, now that you are eating and sleeping in slightly more predictable patterns.  Your pack and play is in Milo’s room, and now it’s your room, too.  Daddy gets Milo his breakfast in the morning while I feed you, and then Daddy gets some special time with you in the evening after Milo is bed.  Then you both sleep in the nursery for most of the night.  When Milo and I are doing a project in the kitchen, you sit and watch us in a bouncy chair on the kitchen table.  You and I go for solo walks or visit people when Milo is in school.  You nap in your carseat, or in the boppy on the couch.  We don’t have a normal “every day,” but every day is filled the same sort of things: feedings, baths, books, naps, pictures, errands, little projects, dinner, and a snuggle before bed.

You are basically out of your newborn clothes, wearing 0-3 months and a few 3 month jackets that completely engulf you.  You wear size one diapers and drink 6 ounces in a sitting.  Your hands are frequently in fists, but when I feed you, you hold onto my necklace or lay your open hand flat against my chest.  You sleep with your arms wide open and your mouth closed.  You love to do long, luxurious stretches, with your legs tight and your arms reaching high.  You make dolphin noises when someone disturbs you while you’re sleeping.  You’ve just started kicking when you stare at the ceiling fan or light fixtures.  When someone gives you a pacifier you don’t want, you make a truly disgusted face and spit it out.  Your smell is completely different than any other baby I’ve ever held of met.  You look amazingly like your daddy.  These are things I want to remember about you at two months.

Here is something for you to remember: I love you so deeply it scares me.  You’re my smallest baby, and you’re wiggled under my skin and into my heart.  Keep growing strong, sweet cheese. Love, your mama.

Elliott: One Month!

Weight: 6 pounds, 14 ounces // Height: 19.5 inches //Hair: Dark brown // Eyes: Indigo // Teeth: None, you’re just a baby, silly!

Hi sweet boy!  On Valentine’s Day you turned one month old!

Here are some firsts from your first month:

January 18th: First outing (the doctor’s office doesn’t count!) to Target with Milo, Mimi, and I!

January 27th: First play date with Manny, my friend Gina’s son.

January 29th: First trip to Southeast Elementary ( Mama’s work).

January 29th: First trip to the Leominster Library.

February 9th: First Blizzard, we were snowed in for a weekend with Milo, Daddy, and Aunt Lulu!

February 14th: First holiday- Valentine’s Day!

Here are some nicknames we’re calling you right now:

Eshy (which we always mix up with your brother’s nickname, Mishy)

Emoji

Sweet Cheese

Smalls (Aunt Lulu really perpetuates this one)

 

 You’ve been with our family just over 4 weeks, and we’re definitely hitting a groove.  I understand more about your personality and am beginning to be able to anticipate what you need. You are small but loud, and I have a feeling that you’re always going to make yourself heard quickly.  When you were first born, you lost a lot of your birth weight, which is normal for babies, but it took you a little while to start gaining again.  When we started adding bottles of formula to the breast milk you were drinking, you started gaining weight at a good rate.  By the time we had your one month appointment, you had gained 22 ounces in only 18 days!  I was so happy to see that you were getting the food you needed and can tell that your features are filling out and looking less fragile.

Because I’m still nursing you, we spend a lot of time together.  Daddy and Milo are home in the morning, but when they are at work and school, we’re a team, running errands and doing things around the house.  Overnight, Daddy is a huge help with changing your diapers and making you bottles, but you and I log some long hours in “our chair,” eating and watching episodes of SNL and Parks and Recreation.   Sometimes I’m very tired, but I love the relationship we have.

With everyone in our family, you’re making more eye contact and really studying our faces.  You have a very sweet and small mouth and you usually shape it like a perfect O while you’re checking everything out.  Milo is really warming up to having a baby in the house- he loves to press his forehead against your head and play with your hands and feet.  When you cry, he yells at your Daddy and I to help you or tries to put his pacifier in your mouth.  When he sees you after a long day at school, he sticks his head into your car seat and makes high pitched lovey noises.  Watching the two of you start a bond is so special to me.  I can’t wait to see what else will happen.

We are a loud and happy family, and you are fitting right in like a puzzle piece we didn’t know was missing.  I’m so proud of you, my second and smallest son, a sweet little pumpkin who makes our family complete.  People love to tell your Daddy and I, “Enjoy your boys, time flies so quickly.”  We hear it ALL the time, from family and friends and strangers in the dentists office.  It sounds like a cliche, something you say to new parents when you’re not sure what else to say, but I’m starting to realize that it’s a warning.  They’re very serious.  If the rest of the months fly as quickly as this one, you’re going to be rolling, walking, running away before we know what’s happening.  No matter what the speed of this life is, I’m so glad I get to go through it as your Mama.  I can not what to see what the rest of this year has in store for you, my little sweet cheese.

p. s. Here are some pictures comparing you and your brother on the day you were born and in your one month picture, and a link to the one month letter I wrote for Milo.

Milo’s one month letter

You Are Here

Hello, Elliott. My sweet youngest son, you are here! You came bursting onto the scene on Monday night, January 14th, at 7:22 pm.  You weighed 5 pounds, 10 ounces, and were 18 inches long.  You had tons of black hair, long fingers, and skinny legs.  You instantly started making tiny kitten noises.  We are completely in love with you.

You have been here for two weeks and had lots of love from friends and family.  Your big brother Milo is very protective of you- he worries a lot when you cry or make sad noises, and will run to try and find an adult to help you.  He offers you his pacifier, which is a big thing for him to give up; it shows me that you mean a lot to him.  Daddy and I also love you to pieces and take turns snuggling you and staring into your very dark eyes.

You are completely yourself, with your own looks and personality.  You don’t really look anything like your brother did when he was a baby- you are smaller, with lots and lots of hair, dark eyes, and a tiny little chin.  We’ve been working hard to get you to gain weight and grow strong; you came so early that we have to wake you up to remind you to eat.  You look around with the sweetest quiet expression, taking in all the craziness of our little household.

Daddy and I had been counting down the days until we could hold you and officially make our family a group of 4.  Now that you’re here, we’re treasuring every moment, from the bustling times when all four of us are trying to fit on the couch or in our bed, to the special moments when it’s just you and me, during 4am feedings or when the rest of the family is out to work and school.  I’m so glad to finally meet you, and I can’t wait to see all the adventures time will bring.

My heart is bursting with love for you, your Mama.

sweet second baby: elliott shields!

Hi sweet baby.  Time is flying like crazy, you are growing like a weed, and I can’t believe how soon you will actually be here.  The last time I wrote to you, you were a tiny seed, an idea, and person who would exist in the far off future.  Now you are a BOY, a strong, wiggly, squirmy boy.  You have name, Mr. Elliott, and a fan club, and even your older brother has started noticing that Mama’s tummy is swelling and something is moving under there.

Having you growing in my belly is different than when I was having your brother.  Because of the way you are positioned, I feel your kicks and wiggles all the time, and it’s very strong.  One time I was giving Daddy a hug, and you kicked so hard that he felt it in his belly! Your big brother, Milo, likes to pull up my shirt and pat my belly.  I know you’ve given him a little kick at least once, but I don’t think he’ll understand that you’re coming to our family until you’re finally here.  When he goes to daycare, he plays with baby dolls and real babies and when I pick him up, I picture him being the same sweet boy to you.  I can’t wait for him to meet you!

Daddy and I are busy getting things organized for when you come.  Our house is cozy but small, so we are making plans to find places to tuck all the babies, and tuck all the toys, and tuck all the books.  We have our plans all set for your infant days; I will stay home with you and we’ll get in some good bonding time while Daddy is at work and Milo is at school.  Over the summer, you and Milo and I will have adventures and hang with Daddy on the weekends.  By the time September is here, you will already be such a big boy.

Sometimes it seems silly to think so far in the future, and other times, I realize that it’s barely in the future at all.  We will blink and you’ll be here.  We’ll blink twice and you’ll be pulling up on the furniture and giggling.  Three blinks and you’ll be chasing your brother around.  In the time it took me to write this sentence, you’re going to go to school, make best friends, meet your loves, find your passion, and I’ll be old and reading these letters and crying at how insanely fast it went.

Knowing even a corner of the truth of how fast time goes makes it hard for me, because I WANT to scream, “Get here, Elliott, I absolutely can not wait to hold you and kiss your eyes and I need to snuggle you.”  But I can’t rush time.  Plus, right now, I get to keep every kick and wiggle as a secret language between you and I, and that’s my favorite part of being your mama; our stolen months before the rest of the world gets to see you as the shining star you are.

So stay cozy, little baby.  Kick me hello and wiggle me goodnight, and I will patiently make our lives ready for your big entrance.  When you do finally arrive, you are going to be showered with so much love and attention and curious pokes and sweet snuggles.  Rest up, you’re going to need it!

I love you with my whole heart.  Love, your Mama.

Milo: 11 Months! and 12 Months!

Weight: 23.5 pounds // Length: 29 inches //Teeth: 8  teeth, four on the top and two on the bottom, with two more working their way through // Eyes: Blueish-green // Hair: Blondish-brown, long curls at the back of your neck

Milo, we’ve made it an entire year!  In these last two months you’ve really shot from the last bits of baby to the beginnings of a true toddler.  We’ve gone from spending long days together to a routine of work and daycare and weekend outings.  You’ve gone from scoot-crawling and pulling up on furniture to full-speed walking and even running around the room.  You “talk” in long strings of babble and say “bye-bye” as clear as day, pointing and waving to  try to communicate what you want.  It’s amazing to watch you change and grow.

You are so much more mobile now that we had to move all our furniture around and put up some gates.  You love to crawl over to the baskets that hold your toys and books and pick out what you want to play with.  Without anyone really showing you, you learned how to roll cars and trucks on the ground and things with wheels are your favorite toys.  Your love for Thomas has gotten even stronger, and you have so many trains of different sizes.  You still love the G. I. Joes, and you love to carry them around and put them inside things.  You like to bounce when music comes on, especially the theme music from your favorite shows (Thomas and Super Why) and you clap when you’re very happy or excited.

At the very end of August you started going to daycare, and you absolutely love it.  You have lots of friends and get so excited to see them when we go over to Miss. Denise’s house.  Miss. Denise is a wonderful teacher and it’s easy to see how much she loves you.  It makes me really happy that you love her and feel so comfortable when you’re with her.  You do things like go for walks, listen to your alphabet, play cars and toys with you friends, eat snacks, sing songs, and have lots of fun.  I’m so glad that we live on the same street as such an amazing place for you to spend your days.  You adjusted so well to going to daycare and playing with the other kids has already taught you so much.

You have a ton of new tricks.  You love to pick up sticks, rocks, books, puzzles pieces- anything you can get your hands on- and run around, holding them up and presenting them to the people around you.  You figured out how to help me push the stroller when we were in the library one day, and you were so proud. You prefer to eat with a fork and hold grown up cups by yourself whenever we let you.  You’ve also developed a real sense of humor and love to be silly.  You put things on your head and giggle when people put things in their mouths that don’t belong there.

In your 12th month, you finally got sick for the very first time.  For over a week we were constantly taking you to doctors, sleeping next to you listening to you breathe, using humidifiers and all kinds of medicine, all trying to beat a bad case of croup.  It was so hard to know that you weren’t feeling well, to have you out of your routine, and to listen to the doctors tell us so many different things while they tried to get to the bottom of whatever it was that was keeping you sick.  I’m so thankful that you’re healthy now, and we’ll have a better idea of what to do next time that you’re sick.  It was a learning experience, and we’re all tougher for it!

Then the celebration of your birthday finally came around! Lots of people have been showing you love from the time before you were born, and they kept it up for your special day.  You had a presents, friends, love, a balloon, pumpkins, a crown (from Miss. Denise), and a special cake, all for yourself.

You were a spoiled little king for the whole day, and it helped us realize how spoiled we have been for the whole year; spoiled with love from so many people around us, spoiled by having each other as a parenting team, and spoiled with a golden haired little boy who has been our baby for 365 days.  I can’t believe how big you are.  I can’t wait to keep watching you grow.  Thank you for turning me into who I was meant to be.  Love, your Mama.

first letter, second time. sweet second baby!

Hello there!  You are the newest member of our little family, and we already can’t wait to meet you.  This is your first picture.  When it was taken, we were all squished in a little room at the doctor’s.  I was laying on table and your daddy and brother were sitting on the floor.  We were all squinting at the screen, trying to catch a glimpse.  All of the sudden, you showed up, squirming and wiggling so much that the ultrasound technician could barely measure you!  We couldn’t stop laughing because we didn’t know such a tiny baby could move so much.  She said you were in “the gummy bear stage,” meaning your head was large and your arms and legs were little buds, like a gummy bear.  You can see the big head right in the middle of the screen, with the little bud limbs on the top and right of the head.  That’s you, sweet thing!

By now, you have been cooking in my belly for 18 weeks.  You are the size of a sweet potato or a bell pepper, and I feel you squiggling around in my belly while I’m working on sitting on the couch.  You already have a big brother, Milo, a kitty, Penguin, and a mama and daddy who love you very much.  You also have a Mimi and Grandpa, Nona and Grampy, Aunt Lulu, Aunt Juju, Aunt Emmy, Uncle Andrew, and other aunts and cousins and who can’t wait to meet you!  Right now, we are making plans for a cozy room for you and Milo to share, figuring out how to make our time together when you’re first born last as long as possible, and coming up with names that we love whether you are a little boy or a little girl.

In a few weeks, we’ll go and take another picture at the doctor’s office and hopefully find out your gender!  I can’t wait to see you again and keep track of how you’re growing.  I love you and will talk to you again soon.  Love, your Mama

Milo: Nine months! and Ten months!

 

 

(I have had the hardest time getting these pictures.  You won’t even lay on your back for a diaper change without crying.  Two more months and then I can just celebrate you in your normal state, which is flying around like a crazy little thing.)

Weight: 21 pounds, 15 ounces // Length: 28 inches //Teeth: 4 complete teeth, a fifth one is working through right now // Eyes: Blueish-green // Hair: Blondish-brown, getting longer everyday

I did it again.  The summer is almost over, two wonderful months of your life have passed, and I didn’t stop to write down the letter that’s always in my head.  We have been glued at the hip for the entire summer, through two big vacations, countless day trips, the crafting of a cozy daily routine, doctor’s appointments, swim dates, long walks, and lots of fun.  You are a completely different baby than when I was first home for the summer; you’re morphing into a toddler in front of my very eyes.

At the beginning of the summer, you were always content to sit in the “the pillow pit”: we would lay down a blanket and fence you in with every pillow in the house.  Throw some toys and books inside, put on the Laurie Berkner Pandora station, and you would happily play for up to 30 minutes, never really venturing outside of the ring.  I think of that now and laugh.  During our first summer vacation to Florida, you practiced lots of crawling, and came home to shoot from room to room on your hands and knees.  The days of the pillow pit were over.  Once crawling was down, you started pulling up, on your toy basket, the coffee table, any wobbly furniture you can get your hands on.  We’ve rearranged the furniture and started putting dangerous things in the basement.  You’re not walking quite yet, but it’s so close you can taste it.

A lot of your “babyness” is falling away.  Early this summer, we had to stop using your little blue bathtub.  You are too strong and spend the entire time trying to launch yourself out to see whats on the other side.  One time I stood up to get your towel and you tried to stand to reach to the faucet- I grabbed you as you were tumbling headfirst into the big tub with the baby tub landing on top of you.  We bought a blue whale faucet cover, a little non-slip mat, and you started big boy baths the next day.  You still love to splash.  We still have to remind you to sit down.

You have also started holding your own bottle.  This is very new and very cool.  As far as adult foods, you can eat small bites of almost anything Daddy and I are eating, and we have three meals together daily.  Now I can mix up a bottle and you can feed yourself while I fix our main meal.  Watching you try and eat healthy foods makes me so proud.  Having you begging for our scraps also makes Daddy and I more careful about the food we’re eating.  You are hungry and eat a lot.  You’ve tried ground bison, goat cheese, olives, kale, and other “grown up” foods.   I know you’ll go through phases of eating less exotic foods, so I’m trying to take advantage right now, while you still enjoy almost anything.  This week, you spit out cauliflower and zucchini.  You love cheese and blueberries and broccoli.

As you get older, we have more fun together.  I need to write you a completely separate letter to explain our adventures this summer, but there are some basic things that you’ve really come to love.  You are a water baby, and we have spent a lot of time in swimming pools, baby pools, and spray parks this summer.  Now that you can crawl, you move around the living room and choose the toys or books you want to pull down.  You love to dump things out; in the living room you have a large basket of toys and puppets, a small metal bucket of G I Joes, and a cloth box full of board books.  You ping from place to place and make messes, lighting on something for a second, throwing it into a pile, crawling to the next area and grinning the whole time.  It’s really wonderful to watch you explore, make choices about what you want to hold, and discover what you can do.  You also love to get into the grown up things around- you’re still into iPhones and remotes, and when I’m typing on my laptop, you love to pull up on the coffee table and try to bang on the keyboard.  Daddy let you play with his keyboard, but as soon as you figured out that it wasn’t connected, you just tried to eat the cord.

We run lots of errands and you love to flirt with strangers.  You still are more drawn to men than women, but anyone can win a smile from you.  You love to people watch; if you are facing outward in any public situation, you are more than happy to stare and shout out baby babble commentary.  The grocery store is one of your favorite places.  At the end of the summer, you’ve just gotten into train tables.  Thomas the Tank Engine is one of your favorite shows, and when you hear the theme song, you grin and clap (another new trick).  We have played at a few public train tables, and you love to watch the big kids move their trains around the track.  I have to remind you not to eat the trains, but mostly you just feel proud to stand up next to the other kids and watch them.

You have been developing your own attitude.  You’ve always let us know how you feel, but we’re starting to notice more than Happy Milo and Sad Milo.  We started using the word “No,” while we move you away from something unsafe, and you get very frustrated when we say it.  You’ll wave your arms and have an angry face.  You get angry if someone takes away the toy you’re holding, or someone doesn’t turn the pages of the book fast enough, or you don’t get more food on your high chair tray as quickly as you would like.  It’s interesting to watch your personality develop.  We’ve learned the things that make you feel better: being able to look around, getting down and having freedom to crawl, walking around in the stroller, and being in the water.  Making sure you get your naps and some snacks are also surefire ways to combat grumpiness. Makes sense, because I’m exactly the same way.

You have a “lovey” doll, these little sock monkey babies.  You can’t sleep without gently stroking the yarn hair.  We had the original gray one for awhile, and then Aunt Tanya found more while we were on vacation and bought you a blue and orange!  Your grin in this picture is because she had just handed them to you.  You shoved them in your mouth and snuggled them, the best way you show your love.

You are your daddy’s best friend and you get so excited when he comes home from work.  You guys play with G I Joes together, wrestle around and have crawling competitions, hide behind toys and pop out, and play outside.  You’re his special guy, and sometimes even when you’re sleeping, Daddy will be looking at pictures of you and showing me the ones he loves the most.  We spent half an hour this morning watching the videos we’ve been taking since you were a little tiny thing.  Daddy, especially, is loving every second he gets to spend with his first son.

One of the reasons we’re spending so much time enjoying our little family of three is because we just found out that you’re going to be a big brother!  In February, another baby will be living at our house!  At the beginning of the summer, you came with us to the doctor’s office and we saw an ultrasound of the little gummy bear baby, wiggling around like crazy.  I know you can’t understand the changes right now, but I know you’re going to do a great job showing the new little one what it’s like to live in the Swicker household.

In two months, you’ll be one.  I can’t believe it.  Thank you for everything you bring to us.  We love you so much.

Milo: Seven Months! AND Eight Months!

Weight: Probably around 19 pounds, no doctor’s appointment this month! // Length: 27 inches //Teeth: Two proud bottom teeth! // Eyes: Blueish-green // Hair: Blondish-brown, getting longer everyday

Weight: Still guessing, but probably around 20-21 pounds // Length: 29 inches? //Teeth: Four chompers; two on top, two on bottom // Eyes: Blueish-green // Hair: Blondish-brown, starting to curl around your ears, and you have hat hair and bed head now

(Can I say how hard it’s getting to take these pictures?  You hate being on your back, silly boy.)

 I’m majorly cheating.  I started working on this month’s letter when you were only three days away from being 8 months old, and it seemed silly to push out two letters so close to each other.  I’m blending these together and  giving you memories and tidbits from the past TWO months.  You have been changing so quickly, and our lives are so flat-out busy, that I can barely describe what’s happening.  You are not a baby baby anymore.  Here are some things that you eat, and say, and do:

You wear 6-12 month or 9 month clothes and size four diapers.  In the sun, we have a constant battle to keep your baseball cap on your head, but you’re pretty patient with my sunscreen application.

You eat blueberries, banana, cherries, mango, apples, watermelon, avocado (reluctantly), Baby Mum Mums, Ella’s Kitchen ginger teething cookies, pureed baby food with grains and greek yogurt blended in, and baby puff snacks.  You love it when I let you have some of the grains of my rice from my dinner.  You drink water from a sippy cup, and still take bottles through out the day.  You stole a sip of Daddy’s iced tea and grinned.  You are definitely opinionated- some days you don’t want a kind of food, and you spit it right out.  You like to hold the spoon while we direct it towards your mouth, and you’ve just started picking up small puffs and pieces of fruit by yourself.  I can’t wait to introduce you to different foods and watch you become even more independent with your feeding.  Such a healthy boy!

You can be pretty vocal through out the day, especially when you’re falling asleep or waking up.  You make this kind of half-bored groaning noise on repeat when you are getting tired- it’s a dead giveaway that you’re about to conk out.  Lately, you’ve been waking up and making that noise for awhile before letting us know you want us to come get you.  It’s cute and weird, like you.  You have even more defined cries than before; you have a new high-pitched whine that you use for attention, or when you want something we’ve moved out of your grasp.  You’ve also started pumping your arms and “hitting” when you are very angry or very excited.  You say “bwah” and “buh buh buh,” and there have even been some “mamamama” and “dadadada” strings of sound, even though we’re pretty sure you’re not making any connection between us and our names yet.  You blow spit bubbles and make whisper/scream sounds when you’re playing by yourself.   I can’t wait to hear what you say next.

You’re ALMOST on the move.  Right now, you always sleep on your belly with your head buried in the mattress and your knees pulled up.  It looks like a yoga move, and the first time someone new sees it, they always worry about your breathing, but you flip yourself into that position every night.  This means that when you wake up, you push right up on all fours and rock back and forth.  When you’re groaning yourself to sleep, you roll/crawl/flip/sprawl all OVER the place in your crib, and even on the floor in the living room, you can scoot around where you want to go.  It’s not quite crawling yet, but it’s so exciting and nerve wracking to know that you’re so close.  In the tub, high chair, and car seat, you always use your upper body strength to hang over the side and try to see whats under you.  You’ve discovered the fine baby art of dropping, but don’t usually freak out when you lost your treasure, and in the tub, you’re smart enough to get whatever you dropped back.  You grin when we cheer for you, and despite several good whacks to the head, you rarely cry when you get hurt.  You’re a bruiser.

You like books that have a texture element, sucking on pieces of string (ribbons on toys, velcro straps on stroller chimes, any of the buckles that reign you in through out the day), watching Thomas the Tank Engine and Super Why, being in the stroller, dancing to music, being upside down, squeezing the nipple of your bottle (you laugh hysterically when it pushes little puffs of air and/or milk on your face), turning on and off your sound machine by slapping at it, your gloworm toy, glasses, iPhones, and remotes. You hate when iPhones, glasses, or remotes are taken away from you, being buckled in the car seat, when the sun is in your eyes, when you have to be on your back at all, when you lose your passy and are too exhausted to find it again, or when Mama cleans your nose.

We’re still enthralled by you, the new things you do, the funny faces you make, the way you sleep (or not), the foods you try (or spit out), the way you make everyone so happy just by existing.  The best part of my day is pulling in the driveway when I get home from work; Daddy always has you waiting in the window, and seeing your little head bob while you watch the big car roll towards the house reminds me what our little family is all about.  We’re all about each other.  Sorry I missed a month.  Summer is here, I’m going to be getting a lot more time with you, and I’ll make sure to keep track of our adventures.

Love you more every second, Mama